The King
by CapNap
Summary: Clint Barton is the King of Gaming, and he intends to stay that way. No one has ever even come close to taking his throne. Humorous Oneshot.


**Author's Note: I recently went to see the Avengers (and watched Thor). I am in _love _with** **the Avengers and wanted to write something lighthearted for them. I wanted to write Loki in...but I couldn't find a place to easily slip him in, so I suppose I'll just have to write another one for him. :D Any ideas or prompts for me are very welcome! ALSO, I am in need of a Beta Reader...so...help there would be much appreciated as well. Read and Review, I love reading feedback and comments. Enjoy!**

"Hey Steve, wanna play a game with us?"

Thunder boomed across the sky, rattling the windows of Stark Tower. Steve dropped the newspaper low enough to see Bruce Banner peering at him from the door frame.

"A game?"

"Yeah, a game. We're all in here, why don't you join us?"

"Yeah! Get in here you old man!" Tony Stark's voice echoed over Bruce's shoulder. Shouts of rage and hearty laughter rose above the clamor of crashes from the other room. Steve furrowed his brow.

"What kind of game are you playing? Doesn't sound like a game I've ever played."

Bruce smiled and shook his head. "It's fun. Just c'mon." He turned and left Steve alone in the small kitchen. He sighed and refolded the paper.

The rec room was in a state of semi-chaos. Tony, Clint and Thor were jammed onto the couch. Food bowls and empty cans surrounded them. Bruce had already taken his seat in the large armchair as Natasha reclined on the carpet, casually watching the flat screen as two figures wondered around a battlefield. The three men on the couch pushed and shoved each other as the red blips on the radars got closer together.

"HE'S RIGHT THERE! GET 'IM CLINT!" Tony yelled. It was the most enthusiastic anyone in the room had seen him get. Then again, it was also the most drunk they've ever seen him get.

"Shut up, Tony! I'll get him, I _always _get him…" his voice turned into a mischievous growl and he continued his stare-down with the T.V.

"Hold! Which of these buttons do I press again?" Thor searched the controller in his hand, desperately trying to remember which button did what.

"The one at the top, Thor," Bruce casually said, though he had to raise his voice to be heard above Tony's hoots.

"WHICH ONE?" Thor's booming voice filled the room and another lightning bolt flashed across the sky.

"Calm down, calm down!" Tony leaned over so that he was practically laying across Bruce's lap and touched one of the buttons on Thor's controller. "That one."

"Next time you want to show your boyfriend how to use Earth toys, would you kindly leave me out of it?" Clint shoved Tony back into his original seat. Tony roared into a fit of laughter and leaned into the arm of the couch.

"Boyfriend!" he managed to get out between spasms of laughter.

"Clint, you must have been mistaken. Tony and I do not have a romantic relationship. I have heard him say multiple times that he…um…'doesn't sail his ship that way'," Thor jerked the remote into the air and flailed it in different directions. "No…just…hang on…NO! I DIDN'T WILL YOU TO GO IN THAT DIRECTION YOU IMPUDENT MORTAL. OBEY. MY. COMMANDS." Tony continued to laugh and Clint chuckled at the god sitting beside him. Watching a Norse god play video games was the best form humor he'd ever seen.

"Hello Thor…." Clint sneered. Thor tore his gaze from the game to stare into the side of Clint's face.

"…Hello...Clint…." he said, confused. Clint cackled and threw his hands in the air as he reclined into the back of the couch. Thor glanced back to the screen just in time to see his guy fall to the ground. He howled with rage and threw the controller to the floor. "That's it! Never again shall I play your stupid little Midgardian games!" Thunder rumbled across the city and rattled the windows once more.

"Thor, that's what you've said the last eight rounds you've played," Bruce pointed out.

"I mean it this time," he pouted.

"You said that, too."

"Silence!"

"Hey! Captain! Nice of you to join us," Tony craned his head backwards to look at Steve who still stood in the doorway to the rec room. The rest of the gang turned to look at him. "Why don't you stay a while?" Steve walked into the room and took Thor's spot on the couch, picking up the controller as he sat down.

"You want to take a crack at this?" Clint asked, incredulous. Steve supplied a shrug as his answer.

"Why not? Can't be too hard, right?"

"_I _couldn't get it," Thor interjected as he pouted from the corner on the other side of the room. A silence settled over the room, as they all looked at him. After a short moment, Clint turned back to Steve.

"Nope. Not hard at all," he said. Thor glared at him.

"What do you have to do?"

"Okay, all you have to do is navigate the map, using your guy, find me and kill me. Shoot me, to be exact. You can choose your gun, and other weapons, like….you got your grenades, flash, stun, semtex…" Clint listed off all of the options as he scrolled through the weapons. Steve listened intently, taking it all in. He was shown the buttons to press and how to maneuver the character around the map. "Now, don't get too disappointed when I beat you. I am the _king _at this game."

Clint resumed his "gaming position": elbows on his knees, hunched forward, eyes fixed on the screen. Steve looked at him, slightly amused at the seriousness of his mannerisms. He leaned back into the couch, and glanced around the room at the rest of the gang. Tony had gone quiet, finally wearing himself out. He slept with his face pressed into the corner of the couch. He'd managed to flip himself over and have just enough of his body on the couch so that he wouldn't fall off. Bruce eyed Steve with a smirk. He didn't know whether it was a "You're about to be the next victim of Clint's special can of Ass-Whooping" look, or one that said,  
"Get him." He took it as the latter and focused his attention to the game.

The screen blinked a few times and the battlefield lit up. Clint took off like a shot, surveying the surroundings and expertly maneuvering his character over the debris of a fallen city. He smirked knowingly. He'd played this map a thousand times and knew exactly where his opponent had spawned. Steve didn't move his screen. He simply cycled through his weapons, selecting the ones he wanted. Once he was satisfied, he crouched, his only cover being an overturned car.

"Its the little joystick thing on the right, Steve," Bruce motioned toward the controller. He nodded, continuing to watch the screen.

"I know."

"...Okay..."

"Come and fight me like a man, _Captain_," Clint growled playfully.

"Come and find me, _Hawk_," Steve retorted. Clint accepted the challenge and continued to navigate the map. He rounded the last corner and jogged casually down the demolished road.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," he sing-songed. Without warning, Steve pushed a sequence of buttons unleashing a stun grenade, and a smoke screen quickly after. Clint furrowed his brow as his screen became shaky and clouded with a thick grey smoke. He'd just begun to see his target clearly and poise his finger over the trigger button when his half of the screen turned red. His intense expression turned to horror as he watched his guy fall to the ground. Steve mocked his previous motions and leaned back into the couch with his hands in the air.

"I win," he said smugly. A grin was plastered across his face and his eyes danced mischievously.

"...But...How?...You..." Clint looked at Steve. "_You_?" he stuttered. Steve just shrugged. He got up off the couch, giving Thor his seat back, and moved back to the kitchen to grab his paper. He returned to the rec room, Clint still staring at him, eyes wide with bewilderment, and sat in the armchair next to Bruce. They shared a silent nod and slapped each other five.

"So, Clint, if you were the king at that game, and I just beat you...does that make me king now?" He unfolded the paper and held it up in an attempt to cover up his laughter. Clint sat back into the couch and glowered.

"You may be a king at silly Midgardian games, but I am a real king," Thor sat back in his seat and joined Clint in his pouting.

"No you're not," Clint snapped. Thor was silent for a moment.

"...Not _yet_."

"King of Gaming. Sounds like a nice title. What do you think, Bruce?" They shared a smile.

"I'm not going to say a word," he said, chuckling.

"It sorta has a nice ring to it, I'd say."

"Well, I gotta say, Steve, those gaming sessions we had really seem to have paid off, huh?"

"You bet they did." Steve looked pointedly at Clint who just stared at the two.

"You hustled me?"

"Hustled...taught you a lesson...It's all the same, isn't it?"

"You all suck." Clint pushed himself of the couch and stalked off toward his room.

"Now, Clint..." Steve turned to look at him. Clint stopped and turned slowly to face him, expecting a sincere apology. Steve put on his best innocent face. "Is that anyway to talk to your King?"

Bruce cracked up and Natasha tried to cover her smile as Clint huffed out of the room. The laughter eventually died down and they all sat, enjoying the silence. All that could be heard was the soft patter of rain on the window panes and Tony's soft snore. Thor was the first to speak.

"King of _Asgard_ has a nicer ring to it..." They all turned to him. He looked up, feeling their stares and shrugged innocently.

Some Midgardian customs he'd just never understand.


End file.
